giovanniguidi.net

GIOVANNI GUIDI QUINTET


Se lo stato di salute di un movimento artistico si misura anche dalla capacità delle nuove generazioni di mettersi in gioco delineando nuove strade, si può star certi che il jazz italiano viva un momento di grazia unico. Giovanni Guidi e Gianluca Petrella sono due degli esempi più convincenti di questo periodo storico.
Quando poi insieme ai nostri eroi si aggiungono tre dei più interessanti interpreti della nuova scena jazzistica d'oltre atlantico i risultati sono veramente sorprendenti.
Oggi Giovanni Guidi non è più una rivelazione : in pochi anni e a passi da gigante ha trovato una propria strada fatta di una progettualità unica e di una lucida consapevolezza nelle scelte artistiche , che lo sta portando ad affermarsi , oltre che come pianista, come organizzatore di suoni di prima scelta. E non è certo
un caso che un musicista illuminato qual é Enrico Rava l'abbia voluto al suo fianco e a lui difficilmente rinunci.
Quello del quintetto è un progetto unico che vedrà la luce in Gennaio sotto la forma di un album " We Don't Live Here Anymore", registrato per la Cam Jazz nel maggio scorso a New York .
Il quintetto che sarà in tour a Febbraio si muove con estrema libertà in ambiti in cui viene privilegiato con grande energia l'aspetto ritmico,che ovviamente richiama le attuali produzioni di aerea newyorkese, senza perdere di vista però l'attenzione per la melodia, il lirismo e la cantabilità che sono i tratti salienti della personalità di Giovanni Guidi.


GIOVANNI GUIDI

Born in Foligno, Italy, in 1985, Giovanni Guidi first showed interest in music at the tender age of three, when he received a toy drumset as a gift. At twelve, he began to study the piano. During his studies at the summer masterclasses in Siena, he began to attract the attention of Enrico Rava (He is a member of his New Quintet) who later asked him to join the group Rava Under 21, subsequently Rava New Generation . It was with this later incarnation that Guidi appeared on a nationally distributed bonus CD for the magazine “L’Espresso.” In addition to the continuing collaboration with Rava, he performs in the Mauro Negri Quartet, the Lello Pareti Quartet, Gianluca Petrella’s Cosmic Music Orchestra, Fabrizio Sferra Trio and leads a quartet of his own. Guidi has performed in a number of important festivals, including Umbria Jazz, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Ubi Jazz, Vicenza New Conversation, Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows, Zurich Nu Jazz, Stavanger Mai Jazz, Bombay, New Delhi, Honk Kong, Vigo Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival. At Umbria Jazz 2006, he appeared as an artist-in-residence, performing ten consecutive nights to very enthusiastic crowds. In every situation Guidi demonstrates his talents as a pianist and composer. His music is strongly influenced by popular music, but with very uncommon harmonic structures, and characterized by a profound melodic sense. The Giovanni Guidi Trio released a CD for the Japanese record company VENUS. The CD, “Tomorrow Never Knows” received five stars in a review by the magazine “Swing Journal.” In February 2007 the CD “Indian Summer” was released by CAM JAZZ. Giovanni Guidi has been named "Best New Talent" by a jury of 58 journalists and critics in a poll entitled "TOP JAZZ 2007," held yearly by the Italian magazine "Musica Jazz." In 2008 was released his album called "The House Behind This One".
In July 2009 was released his new album “The Unknown Rebel Band”.
His third CD for CAM Jazz, marks his debut in directing a larger ensemble. The result is a record of startling intensity, successfully balancing moments of pronounced lyricism with influences from free jazz, a continuing source of inspiration for the young pianist from Foligno.

GIANLUCA PETRELLA Born in Bari in March 1975, he graduated from Bari Conservatory in 1994 . After various experiences in 1997 he started to collaborate with Enrico Rava. with whom he still plays in different groups. His International collaborations include, among others: Steve Swallow, Joy Calderazzo, Jimmy Owens, Greg Osby, Bob Moses, Carla Bley, Steve Coleman, Tom Varner, Michel Godard, Lester Bowie, Han Bennink, Marc Ducret, Roswell Rudd, Lonnie Plaxico, Ray Anderson, Pat Metheny, Oregon, John Abercrombie, Aldo Romano and Steven Bernstein. He has also worked with several important italian musicians: Roberto Gatto, Antonello Salis, Gianluigi Trovesi, Roberto Ottaviano, Enrico Pieranunzi, Paolino Dalla Porta, Paolo Fresu and others. In the “electronic area” he collaborated with 9lazy9 (Ninja Tunes) and performed with the worldwide famous Matmos.
He has performed in the most important and international festivals. Under these: Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago, Rio de Janiero, Oslo, London, Berlin, Umbria Jazz and the Blue Note Jazz Club of Tokyo and New York.
Actually he’s active with his Indigo4 (with Francesco Bearzatti on sax, Paolino Dalla Porta on bass and Federico Scettri on drums), the new “Tubolibre” Quartet with Mauro Ottolini (tuba), Gabrio Baldacci (guitar) and Cristiano Calcagnile (drums) and the recently awarded “Cosmic Band”, a new young tentet inspired by the music of Sun Ra.
2006: He wins the “Top Jazz” award as “best Italian jazzist of the year 2005” (“Musica Jazz” magazine) and the “Down Beat Critics Poll” award as best rising star trombonist.
2007: Paul Acket Awards (Bird Award) as “Artist Deserving Wider Recognition” and – again – the “Down Beat Critics Poll” award as best rising star trombonist .
2009: with his Cosmic Band awarded as "Best italian group of the year" in the critic’s poll of “Musica Jazz”.

MICHAEL BLAKE Born on May 19, 1964 in Montreal, Canada. Saxophonist, composer and arranger Michael Blake has established his presence in the jazz world, while his work gracefully erases the borders between different areas of music. From Soul and Reggae to traditional African and Vietnamese music - Blake is always exploring music that inspires him while staying true to himself. For almost two decades the New York City resident has presented an array of innovative bands and compositions that display his ability to simultaneously embrace jazz history while challenging it. That, along with a natural and relaxed approach to improvisation, is the reason he is one of the most appreciated musicians of his generation.Michael continues to tour and record internationally while remaining rooted in the NY downtown music scene. Among the many artists he has recorded and performed with are Oliver Lake, Grachon Moncour III, Medeski Martin and Wood, Ben Allison, The Gil Evans Orchestra, Ben E. King, Neil Sedaka, Tricky, Prince Paul, The Groove Collective, Jack McDuff, Steven Bernstein, Chris Brown/Kate Fenner, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Hal Wilner, The Lounge Lizards.
THOMAS MORGAN Born on August 14, 1981 in Hayward, California. Is a jazz bassist in New York. After playing cello for seven years, he turned to the double bass at the age of fourteen, taking lessons from Todd Sickafoose for a brief time and Cindy Browne Rosefield for the rest of his high school years. In 1999 he moved to New York to study with Harvie S and Garry Dial at the Manhattan School of Music, also taking extracurricular lessons with Ray Brown and Peter Herbert.
He now performs regularly in New York, Europe, and Canada, and is a member of over twenty bands, including groups led by Dave Binney, Steve Coleman, Pete Robbins, Todd Neufeld, Dan Weiss, Scott DuBois, Samuel Blaser, Paul Motian, Maria Neckam, John Abercrombie, Tyshawn Sorey, Masabumi Kikuchi, Ben Gerstein, Jen Shyu, and Yoon Sun Choi, with whom he plays guitar.



GERARD CLEAVER Born on May 4, 1963 and raised in Detroit, Gerald is a product of the city’s rich music tradition. Inspired by his father, drummer John Cleaver, he began playing the drums at an early age. While attending the University of Michigan as a music education major, he was awarded a Jazz Study Grant, from the National Endowment for the Arts, to study with drummer Victor Lewis. He graduated in 1992 and began teaching in Detroit where he worked with Rodney Whitaker, A. Spencer Barefield, Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden, Wendell Harrison, and with visiting musicians Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Kenny Burrell, Frank Foster, Cecil Bridgewater, Ray Bryant, Howard Johnson, Diana Krall and Don Byron. He moved to New York in 2002. He has performed or recorded with Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Marilyn Crispell, Matt Shipp, William Parker, Craig Taborn, Kevin Mahogany, Ralph Alessi, Jacky Terrasson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, Jeremy Pelt, Ellery Eskelin, David Torn and Miroslav Vitous, among others.